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Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

A Novel

"Smart, warm, uplifting, the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes the only way to survive is to open her heart. Meet Eleanor Oliphant: she struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. That, combined with her unusual appearance (scarred cheek, tendency to wear the same clothes year in, year out), means that Eleanor has become a creature of habit (to say the least) and a bit of a loner. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kind of friends who rescue each other from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond's big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one"-- Provided by publisher.A socially awkward, routine-oriented loner teams up with a bumbling IT guy from her office to assist an elderly accident victim, forging a friendship that saves all three from lives of isolation and secret unhappiness.

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For the first half of the book we witness the odd and quirky Eleanor Oliphant and her awkward ways. Little bit by little bit she tries new things and experiments with approaching a new crush. Thus far I found the story cute, yet wondering what was with the back story of some incident in the past? Finally, the story developed a more serious, empathetic understanding of what was behind Eleanor's past and her new found friendship and personal development. Overall, a great read.

I was drawn to it right away, for her quirky view and worded humor, reflected our time, space and objects acerbically.
But soon, perhaps overdosed by SNL-like wit (losing intended endearment) or became resistant to predictable(except for Mummy’s weekly call) emotional ride, touché moments trickled down to distant sympathy for a specific (isolated) case.
And Raymond is, incredible, but also questionable.
I can see the book’s potential power on general public.

Certain passages of this book hit me in the solar plexus and stayed with me for days - haunting me, and there were sections that I found completely mesmerizing. While I would agree with some others that parts of the story were way too predictable to be teased out over the entire book, I found the journey there entirely heartbreaking and engaging. It did take me couple chapters to get into the story - so don't quit at page 20... I found the narrative voice irritating, but it absolutely grew on me. Worth your time!

I seldom stay up past my bedtime reading anymore, but this book was the exception. It was like watching a tight green bud turn into a fragrant rose. Eleanor, who has been a ward of the state for most of her childhood in Scotland, has a boring job in a graphics firm. She’s struggled all her life with getting along with others. Reading between the lines, many of her actions are those of an autistic person. She’d very intelligent and takes things literally. She has no idea of social niceties. Her quirkiness and relationship with the IT guy at the company make for fun reading, but her actual history isn’t so funny, and it slowly reveals it ugly. This book has an element that is one of my favorite characteristics of a book, well developed characters.

I thoroughly enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant. She is a quirky and cantankerous thirty year old who has mostly isolated herself from others. When she begins to reach slightly beyond her normal routine she surprisingly discovers that she has made an actual real life friend. This is uncharted territory for Eleanor and she must learn to navigate typical social interaction that she has never considered. This in turn gives her cause to examine human relationships in general as well as the tragic childhood that shaped her into who is she is today.

I loved Eleanor Oliphant. I so looked forward to getting back to it each time life got in the way of my reading. The story reminded me a little of She’s Come Undone in that you are rooting for Eleanor as you rooted for Dolores. It’s a marvelous and masterfully crafted first novel.

Eleanor Oliphant is unlike any female protagonists that I can remember. She's unique - naive but very practical at the same time, introverted, totally down to earth, and also inadvertently funny.
"And the office is largely staffed by shirkers and idiots, Raymond".
Eleanor stole my heart. Raymond and Glen the cat come a close second.
Bravo and hats off to the author!

Quotes

“There are days when I feel so lightly connected to the earth that the threads that tether me to the planet are gossamer thin, spun sugar. A strong gust of wind could dislodge me completely, and I’d lift off and blow away, like one of those seeds in a dandelion clock. The threads tighten slightly from Monday to Friday.”

p 134: Some people, weak people, fear solitude. What they fail to understand is that there's something very liberating about it; once you realize that you don't need anyone, you can take care of yourself.

Summary

Meet Eleanor Oliphant. A socially awkward 29-year old who works in the finance department as a clerk in a small graphics firm in Scotland. She is literal to a fault and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. She is completely unfazed by office gossip, and takes comfort in avoiding social interactions. Eleanor lives alone and spends her weekends eating frozen pizza, drinking vodka and making calls to Mummy. According to Eleanor, she is completely fine, thank you very much!

Except maybe she isn’t.

Everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond the new IT guy. Together they come to the aid of Sammy – an older man who they witness collapse in the street. The three become friends who rescue one another from the isolation each of them has been living. With the help of the two men, Eleanor begins to experience her world for the first time with a fresh perspective, and she slowly begins to come out of her shell as they help her to confront the terrible secrets of her past that she has fastidiously kept hidden away.

Debut author Gail Honeyman writes a heartwarming, funny and poignant novel that despite its light-hearted tone does not shy away from its more serious issues. It is a story written with depth, originality and well-developed characters. Readers will enjoy getting to know and rooting for Eleanor, as she navigates a world that was once familiar to her, which has become entirely new. This novel is perfect for those who’ve previously enjoyed titles such as “The Rosie Project” and “A Man Called Ove”.